Pagenaud’s electrifying Indy 500 victory – Daly up to 3rd, finishes 10th
INDIANAPOLIS (Sunday, May 26, 2019) – Simon Pagenaud completed his May mission with the biggest win of his racing life, capturing the 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge in a duel for the ages and extending Team Penske’s dominance in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
Pagenaud edged Alexander Rossi by 0.2086 of a second following a thrilling clash over the final 14 laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that had the crowd at the world’s largest single-day sporting event on its feet and screaming with excitement. It was the seventh-closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history.
“It’s amazing. It’s another dream come true, and the biggest dream of my life come true,” said Pagenaud, the 35-year-old native of Montmorillon, France. “It’s hard to fathom, really. It’s really hard to process it right now, but I’m just filled with a lot of joy.”
CONOR DALY (No. 25 United States Air Force Honda) ran a calculated and controlled race and made his way up to 3rd before the race was flagged due to a major incident. The son of former Irish F1 & Indycar racer Derek Daly: (This is your best performance in the Indy 500. Do you think you made the most of it?): No, but I don’t think it was our fault. We didn’t put a foot wrong; we had good pit stops. The car was good. I don’t know why INDYCAR put us behind (Takuma) Sato. Every driver is going to be upset about something like that, but track position is everything here. That can ruin your race, and it essentially did. I never saw Sato the whole race. So I don’t know where that came from, but our car was great. It was nice to drive. It was just really cool to be in the fight, to be with Alex (Rossi) and those guys. It was awesome. I think we can be proud of what we did today.” (Did you validate yourself in your first start of the season?): “I would like to think so because this is all I get to do. I haven’t been in a car for a year, and we are out there fighting with guys who are really good. Multiple Indy 500 winners, champions, and we were there. I don’t know what else I can do. Winning helps a lot, and if we would have finished in the top five, that would have been great. But I, for sure, think we can be proud of what we did. We will see what happens after this.”
